Okay, I've thought about it. I think the best fight scene in the Lure is...

(drum roll, please)

...Caim and the soldiers in the alley way.

Okay, I know that could mean just about any of the fights, but I'm talking about the one when he's running from the safe house with Liana, Corgan, and Keegan and they are trapped in the alleyways by the city (can't remember the name, I'm horrible with names, Liovard?) guard.

And just that bit, not the bit right after that when he moves to the end of the alley where Keegan is fighting off the mercenaries.

The reason I like that one best is because he still hasn't gone too much over to the shadows (yet). He does use 'em at the beginning to move in behind the soldiers and then at the end of that fight, but not as much as he does later on. He's still just fighting using his skills and basic ruthlessness versus employing the shadows.

FYI - I thought the final showdown with the witch a little disappointing. And the fight between Caim and The Beast was, of course, spectacular but I still like the one above best.

*I'm kidding, of course. I suppose I should ask you which one did you have the most fun writing?

But that entire alleyway sequence was special. Caim is fighting internally at the same time that he's fighting the soldiers/mercs. And it's not sure that he's winning that inner battle. It's a snapshot of the entire book. I was trying to get across that Caim could win all the (physical) battles and still lose the (spiritual) war.

Why did I wait so long for Caim to merge with the shadow beast? Hrmm... Okay, I'm going to give the kind of answer that most people hate: because it felt right. I mean, I could go into how Lure started with a scene with the beast (bear fight), and it circled back to the beast at the climax, thereby offering a semblence of aesthetic balance, but that sounds kinda pretentious. We could go into Caim's psychology, how he needed to make peace with himself and his past (ala the sword) before he was ready to confront the beast. From there we can delve into what does the beast represent, what does the sword signify. But at the end of the day I just want to tell a good story that entertains and (maybe) resonates with you a bit.

Ah, all the events in the last book pushed all the old ones out of my head. Now, what does his mother represent? Why did she call him all the way across the wastes (awesome fights there, by the way, really wanted the last one with the guys like him to last a little longer, sort of, Caim needed a break too)? Or was it his grandfather?

Either way, I'm at a loss as to which fight scene is my favorite from the series. There are so many and they were all so well executed. Will have to ponder this some more...

Disclaimer: These answers reflect my own views, and authors are notoriously bad at dissecting their own work. What I say here isn't The Truth. It's just my truth. Feel free to disagree.

His mother represents the family life and the home Caim never had (past the age of eight). Why did she call? I'm not sure I can give a precise psychological answer, but I think she did it because she wanted to see Caim one last time before she vanished from this world. And Caim's talent answered because he needed closure with her.

All of us have relationships with our parents that are both so simple, and yet so captivating complex at the same time. When I first conceived of the idea that Caim would be called north, I knew only one person could be responsible, could make him feel that longing for contact so crucially. His mother.

Really? I guess I understood that, and you tried to stress that in the last book, but I felt it was more his power answering the call of some other power. I suppose, a more primal thing, even more so that the primal thing between a son and mother. Is there something more primal than that? I'm not sure.